West Wickham pavement widening

We think the temporary barriers should be taken away and permanent widening should be installed only where the existing footpaths are narrow. My recollection is that the footpaths are narrow by Barclays Bank on the south side and on the north side from the Swan down to what was the Midland Bank.

We received a circular letter asking whether we thought the blue barrier scheme on the pavements of West Wickham High Street should be kept, amended or removed.
I suggest that it can be removed. The intention was to enable social distancing, but I believe that most people are sensible about this, most of the time now that we are used to it. This High Street is rarely excessively crowded in any case.
Removing the barriers would allow better use of the kerb space, in particular to increase the number of electric vehicle charging points which will need to increase.

Over the last year there have been two serious incidents where pedestrians have been hit by cars in West Wickham High St. As a starting point there should be a 20mph speed limit on the High Street. Also it gets very congested with traffic passing through. I would like to see permanent pavement widening but the current arrangement requires stepping up and down high kerbs. A lot of elderly pedestrians use the high street so it needs to be done properly. So please widen the pavements properly rather than with the current plastic bollards

Thank you for your communication regarding the proposed pavement widening scheme for West Wickham.
I think that after coping with the pavements as they are (adequately wide enough) and for some time with the blue barriers, I think you should leave things as they are and return to normal. Hopefully the pandemic and subsequent problems are lessening so the blue barriers should be removed completely as some elderly people appeared confused by them and found the height difference difficult to contend with.
If in doubt, DON’T!!

In response to your letter of 1 June I wish to make the following comments.
I presume the pavements you refer to are at the top end of the High Street near ‘The Swan’, outside Barclays and Lloyds banks and between Kent and Surrey Roads. This situation has existed for many years and to my knowledge, as a resident for over sixty years, has never given rise to any problems for residents passing along the reduced width of these pavements. Should the widening of the pavements at these location be approved, pedestrians and traffic would be disrupted whilst work was in progress without any resulting in any benefit to either. I consider any such work would be disruptive, costly and quite unnecessary.

It's a great idea in the current situation to extend the pavement widening scheme, until all the residence have been fully vaccinated. You say you find maintaining the blue barriers difficult? how so? Is it a case of the traffic flowing through the high street building up! or the unequal amount of parking bays being used by the barriers!.
I have had no issues with the temporary installation of the blue barriers as it helps with the social distancing, parents with bigger pushchairs, E-Scooters( no they should not be on the pavement ) and wheelchairs. Keep them in place until at least the end of the year.

While the pandemic is ongoing, we certainly need to keep the widening scheme. It seems as if things will ebb and flow with the pandemic and so far, there is no real end in sight. Whether they need to be permanent I am not sure. I don't remember there being a problem before the pandemic.

I certainly welcome permanent pavement widening. West Wickham has a very pleasant high street, marred by some bottle neck spots, Many thanks Hester .

Regarding the pavement widening scheme on West Wickham High Street, i would like the temporary blue barriers to be removed permanently and not replaced. They are not necessary.
The additional pavement space has not been used enough to justify any further work. This is a very busy road and already has parking bays along it which slows the traffic considerably. The consequent pollution levels are unpleasantly high and the pavement widening just adds to the traffic congestion.
I appreciate the opportunity to voice my views. Thank you.

I am in favour of retaining the pavement widening measures in West Wickham High Street, especially outside Barclays Bank. Even when the Covid-19 pandemic is over I believe it would be good to permanently widen the pavement there.

The temporary pavement widenings should be removed completely and the High Street put back as it was.

My observation says that the current temporary pavement widening serves no purpose as the vast majority of people ignore them.

Please do not use Covid as an excuse for some hare-brained scheme.

As both a representative of the Library and a resident of West Wickham I feel that a permanent widening of the pavement in certain areas regardless of social distancing is essential. The blue barriers have helped a great deal outside Barclays bank where there is often a queue on a particularly narrow area of pavement. However the area by bus stop G outside 18-20A The High Street is particularly narrow and when people are waiting for the bus here the pavement can become completely blocked. A simple solution to this would surely be to move the bus stop further down the High Street towards Matthews the Jeweler.

Thank you for your email regarding the proposals to make permanent the pavement widening scheme in West Wickham High Street.
I strongly object to any temporary changes being made permanent. These barriers were put in place as a temporary measure because Banks, Building Societies and some shops were making their customers queue along the pavement to gain access to their premises during a period of social distancing. That period is coming to an end and to make these changes permanent is unnecessary and would be detrimental to the safe use of the High Street by cyclists and motorists. Already, with delivery lorries parked in the High Street, it is difficult enough for cyclists and motorists to pass safely. Such a change as that proposed, would significantly exacerbate this situation.
Please ensure my objection is brought to the attention of the deciding body.

We are fortunate that the pavements in West Wickham are wide and social distancing is possible.the blue barriers are not necessary and should now be removed. They have caused problems with the way they have moved and now that the lockdown is lifting they have been targeted by young people for knocking down etc.

Remove the pavement widening scheme completely and put West Wickham High Street back to how it was.

Customer wants everything to be put back to what it was. The changes are causing more issues than needed. The flower pots are causing havoc and it is unnecessary.

"The view of the Association is that all the temporary build outs should be removed. The one outside Sainsbury's has been unnecessary as footfall at this end of the High Street is such that pedestrians have had no problem in social distancing. The narrowing of the road has affected cyclists as other vehicles now have less room to pass. With regard to the one outside Barclays Bank the view is that with the end of lockdown restrictions and the end of customers queuing in the street, the build-out is also unnecessary. The same applies to the one adjacent to bus stop H.
Finally, we would like to voice our concerns that any permanent changes would be a poor use of public money without any benefits."

Hi West Wickham High street dose not need widening. The foot fall is so low that this excise would be a complete waste of monies, It should have never had been down in the first place

The barriers are no longer required. No the pavements should not be widened.
Firstly, it causes further traffic congestion on the high street. Which we do not need more of! Secondly, people along the high street are more than capable of letting others pass without the need to have a wider pavement. Social distancing will not be permanent so is a complete waste of money to widen the pavements.
This should be scrapped ASAP.

Thank you for giving us residents the chance to comment on the pavement widening on W. Wickham High Street.
Whilst I appreciate that it was a good idea to introduce a temporary scheme at the start of the pandemic, I think it would be a great mistake to make it permanent. There are several reasons for this: firstly, as the percentage of the population that has had both jabs of the Covid vaccine continues to rise, the need for social distancing is proportionally decreasing. Secondly, there is every reason to hope that the incidents of Covid themselves will also decrease. Thirdly, as someone who regularly both walks & drives along the High Street, I think it would be very helpful to have the roadway restored to its original width. It was never easy to drive along the High Street, but now of course, it’s become even more difficult.
When the pavement widening scheme was first introduced that didn’t matter so much because the many restrictions that were in force at that time meant there were far fewer cars & lorries trying to negotiate their way along the High Street besides which, the risk of spreading Covid was then much greater, so the temporary scheme was a good idea. Now we have a better understanding that Covid is much less likely to spread from one person to another out of doors & anyway as increasing number of people have been vaccinated, the need for the pavement widening is much less. Finally, I would ask those making the decision to remember that W. Wickham High Street is also a main route, rather than being just a dedicated shopping area.